Eleven Arts Acquire 'The Wonderland', Premiering At Crunchyroll Expo

Eleven Arts Anime Studio has over recent years, picked up an extremely high quality library of Japanese animated features including A Silent Voice, Maquia and Millennium Actress for release in US cinemas and now also on home video. They have announced that the latest addition to their impressive line-up is The Wonderland from Keiichi Hara (Miss Hokusai).

Originally screened under the title Birthday Wonderland, the film is a fantasy about Japanese teenager Akane who is reluctantly whisked away to a fantastical world.  It's adapted from a novel by Sachiko Kashiwaba,  and written by Hara's frequent collaborator Miho Maruo. The film screened previously at Fantasia in Montreal and is due to get its US premiere at the upcoming Crunchyroll Expo in San Jose (August 30-September 1). It was originally released in Japan this past April.

Eleven Arts describe the film:

"On the day before her birthday, young Akane meets a mysterious alchemist who brings her into a world of magic and color. She is deemed the "Green Goddess," destined to save the fantastical Wonderland from imminent destruction. The only problem? She just wants to go home."

The film is beautifully animated and features gorgeous character designs courtesy of Russian artist Ilya Kuvshinov.  Eleven Arts have yet to announce further release details for the film. In the meantime, you can check out our review and our latest podcast episode where we discussed it alongside a couple of other films screened at Fantasia this year.